ANNUAL REPORT OF THE ST. LAWRENCE SEAWAY ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION PROGRESS-UNITED STATES PHASE, LAKE ERIE TO MONTREAL SEAWAY INTRODUCTORY 7 During 1956 all engineering design, hydraulic model testing, preparation of contract plans and specifications, and construction activities were continued intensively. Essentially all major operations are on schedule. Concerning construction, unseasonably wet weather during the spring was offset by an unusually good October and November. CONTRACTS AWARDED AND OVERALL STATUS The Corporation has continued its general policy of having construction accomplished by contract after free and competitive bidding. At the close of the year, 27 contracts for construction or for furnishing equipment items were completed or in force. Their combined current value is $74,485,836. This is about 66 percent of the latest estimated total construction cost of the United States seaway program, namely $133 million. A listing of these contracts appears later in this report. Engineering design is about 90 percent complete. Out of 17,500,000 cubic yards of overland excavation in the Long Sault Canal, some 10,130,000 yards, or about 58 percent, have been excavated. Mass concreting for the Eisenhower and Grasse River locks is about 45 percent complete, with about 451,600 yards poured out of a total of 1,001,300. In the overall, construction is about 24 percent complete. Note the maps and photographs printed herein. SCHEDULING Creation of the power pool in the International Rapids section is scheduled to be commenced July 1, 1958. This power pool will flood out existing Canadian 14-foot canal facilities along the north shore in the area above Cornwall. In order to maintain existing 14-foot through navigation during 1958, and to pass it around the main power-project dams, the Long Sault Canal is scheduled to be placed in service by that date. Construction operations, generally, will have then been finished. Dredging in the south channel at Cornwall Island, however, will be continued through 1959 and possibly 1960 to provide full channel width. For the overall Lake Erie to Montreal seaway, all facilities on a 27-foot channel depth basis are scheduled for service beginning in April 1959. COORDINATION Coordination of the planning and construction schedules of the Corporation and its Canadian counterpart is a continuing process. Engineering viewpoints and data are interchanged on particular problems as necessary. Close collaboration similarly takes place between the 2 seaway entities and 2 power agencies. Monthly progress reports are interchanged by the four groups. Comments by the Corporation on power-project plans directly affecting navigation are furnished upon request to the St. Lawrence River Joint Board of Engineers. An unusual amount of engineering coordination is involved on this international development. 8 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE ST. LAWRENCE SEAWAY ENGINEERING SETUP The working arrangement between the Corporation, the Corps of Engineers, United States Army, and the United States Coast Guard is outlined under "Organization." To accomplish its engineering review and general supervision most efficiently, the Corporation has located its technical personnel so as to best fit in with the organizational setup of the Corps of Engineers and the flow of work, both office engineering and field activity. During the past year, Deputy Administrator Oettershagen has been stationed in Buffalo. Our staff engineers have been divided in residence between Washington, Buffalo, and Massena. While it has been unnecessary to call upon our Board of Engineering Consultants as a group during the past year, certain specific points have been taken up with individual members. Working relationships with the Corps of Engineers and the United States Coast Guard continue on a cooperative basis. MANPOWER During the latter part of the peak working season, contractors' at-site employment, spread over 2 or 3 daily shifts, aggregated about 2,500 persons. For design, supervision, and administrative support, the Corps of Engineers had about 140 persons employed at Buffalo, in addition to about 100 for inspection and support at the site of the work. For the Corporation, 5 staff engineers have been directly engaged. GOING CONTRACTS Following is a listing of the completed and active construction and equipment contracts: Description Access road, Grasse River lock.. Completed contracts Eisenhower lock excavation and dike construction. Grasse River lock excavation and dike construction. Stage I, East-West Highway........... Relocation telephone line. Alteration, North Grasse River Rd. Total Contractor Wm. Oakes & Son, Massena, N. Y. Dutcher Construction Corp., Queenstown, D. W. Winkleman Co., Inc., Syracuse, New York Telephone Co., Rome, N. Y..... 1 Payment at time of default Oct. 1, 1955, at which time work was 49 percent complete. Amount $7,573.00 60, 316. 97 1 541, 121.00 2,043, 350. 76 316, 877.70 9,347.96 91, 614.00 3,070, 201.39 10 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE ST. LAWRENCE SEAWAY I. THOUSAND ISLANDS WORKSITE (a) Land acquisition Rights of entry for construction have been obtained and options have been acquired on 25 percent of the lands necessary for the work between Clayton and Alexandria Bay, N. Y. Disposal of dredged material will be in natural deep water areas. (b) Channel enlargement-Clayton to Alexandria Bay, stage 1 Removal of about 242,000 cubic yards of ledge rock and 11,000 cubic yards of overburden material located in 33 shoals covering 123,000 square yards of area is necessary in the 12-mile reach of the river from Clayton to approximately 1 mile downstream from Alexandria Bay. The contract for this work was awarded to the Tecon Corp. of Dallas, Tex., April 30, 1956, on their bid of $4,745,887. It is scheduled for completion prior to January 31, 1958. The improved channel will be at least 27 feet deep and 450 feet wide in the narrowest reach, which is comparatively short. The Tecon Corp. subcontracted removal of the two largest shoals (Nos. 22 and 41) to the Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. At the year's end Great Lakes had virtually completed its subcontract, although the shoals had not been swept for acceptance. The Tecon Corp. will continue to assemble equipment for the remaining dredging under its contract. However, at the year's end removal of shoals Nos. 3 and 14 was completed, and work at shoal No. 35 was completed except for dredging which was 60 percent complete. As a whole this work is on schedule at 24.2 percent complete (c) Channel enlargement-Alexandria Bay to mile 45, stage 2 Engineering surveys are 100 percent complete and office engineering and design is under way for necessary work in this 14-mile reach. The work is scheduled to be advertised March 4, 1957, with bids to be opened April 20, 1957. Completion is scheduled for June 1958. Here the 27-foot channel is expected to be at least 600 feet wide. In the lower 23-mile reach of the Thousand Islands section from mile 45 to Chimney Point (mile 68), the existing and proposed channel lies almost entirely in Canadian waters. The St. Lawrence Seaway Authority of Canada, at the suggestion of the Corporation, will undertake here whatever improvements are needed for seaway purposes. At the request of the Seaway Authority, the Corporation arranged for the Corps of Engineers, United States Army, to make a hydrographic survey, which has just been completed and which included probing of shoal areas in the vicinity of Brockville, Ontario. Drawings plotting these survey findings, and suitable for contract purposes, are being furnished the Seaway Authority, which is also assuming the cost of this engineering work. 11. LONG SAULT WORK SITE Construction of the 10-mile Long Sault Canal with its appurtenances constitutes the dominant element of the United States seaway project. Tonal, through which navigation between the lower St. Lawrence Great Lakes will pass, will have a bottom width of at least minimum surface width of 550 feet, and a depth of at least Eisenhower and Grasse River locks will have a length of ANNUAL REPORT OF THE ST. LAWRENCE SEAWAY 11 860 feet, pintle to pintle; a length of about 4,500 feet end to end of guide walls; a width of 80 feet; a depth of 30 feet over the sills; a maximum lift of 51.5 feet; and a lower gate height of 85 feet. Normal lift will vary from 38 to 42 feet at Eisenhower lock and from 45 to 46 feet at Grasse River lock. Time for filling of the lock chambers will be about 8 minutes and the same for emptying. (a) Land acquisition By agreement, most all lands needed on the United States side of the river here for power and seaway purposes are being acquired initially by the State of New York. Under its Federal Power Commission license, the Power Authority of the State of New York is required to furnish the Seaway Corporation, free of cost, those lands in the pool area required for the power project that will also serve the seaway. As a result, out of 4,599 acres required for the seaway, some 1,382 acres are to be furnished gratis. To date the lands actually acquired total 3,410 and 1,025 acres, respectively, making this land-acquisition program 74 percent complete. Funds in the amount of $565,558 for this activity have been advanced to the Power Authority by the Seaway Corporation. Title to all these parcels will ultimately be vested in the Seaway Corporation. (b) Canal excavation Long Sault Canal (upstream 3-mile portion).-Awarded January 14, 1955, to the Badgett Mine Stripping Corp., of Madisonville, Ky., this contract includes the excavation of 4,500,000 cubic yards of earth material and the placing of 532,500 cubic yards of that material in dike embankments. Contract completion date is April 1957. This contract was divided into three sections for acceptance: Croil Island, Richards Point, and Long Sault Island. The Croil Island work is completed and was accepted by the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation in September 1956. The Richards Point section is very nearly completed. The dike work is complete except for dressing berms and finishing. The Long Sault Island cut is rapidly nearing completion and should be finished ahead of schedule. At the end of the year this contract was 94 percent complete at 91.5 percent scheduled, with 4,377,000 cubic yards of material excavated and 306,500 cubic yards of dike embankment placed. Mainland portion.-The mainland portion of the Long Sault Canal, involving work over about 51⁄2 miles, was awarded to the Peter KiewitMorrison Knudsen joint venture, on May 23, 1955, for a contract amount of $6,452,450. Major work items are 13,016,000 cubic yards of canal excavation and 3 million cubic yards of dike embankment. As of December 31, the contractor had completed 6,163,000 cubic yards of excavation and 2,233,000 cubic yards of dike embankment. The contract was 45.3 percent complete at 61.9 percent scheduled. While the contractor was as much as 25 percent behind schedule at the middle of last summer, some lost ground was regained during September and October, and it is expected that the contract will be completed by the scheduled date, December 24, 1957. This contractor has submitted a claim under the changed-conditions article of the contract for substantially increased compensation ; and an extension of time. This matter is under study and evaluation. by the Seaway Corporation and its construction agent. Similar |